It Always Rains in PA
by SolarRose29
Summary: It's raining. They're in Pennsylvania. Dad told them it rains a lot in Pennsylvania. Pre-series.


It's raining. They're in Pennsylvania. Dad told them it rains a lot in Pennsylvania. The rain started after breakfast and hasn't stopped since. Dean says he wants to go outside and play. Sam doesn't want to. It's raining.

But he stands still anyway as his brother helps him thread his arms through his coat. It used to be Dean's coat. But then Dean turned eight and now he's too big for this coat. So it's Sam's coat now. Dean doesn't have a coat anymore. Dad keeps telling him they'll buy him a new one. Maybe they'll buy him a coat when they get to whichever state is going to come after Pennsylvania.

The rain is just as wet and cold outside as it looked from inside the apartment. Dean shivers when his shirt gets immediately soaked. But then Sam looks at him and suddenly Dean stops shivering. Come on, says Dean, we'll go to the playground. Sam points out how it's raining.

"That means we'll get the whole place to ourselves," Dean replies.

Sam thinks about how the only thing the rain is going to get them is a fever. At least, that's what Mrs. Hayes told him. But Dean wasn't there. Dean doesn't go to kindergarten. He's never met Mrs. Hayes. So he doesn't know about the rain giving people fevers. But he seems pretty excited at getting the entire playground to themselves.

And they do. The only things they have to share the equipment with is puddles and gray shadows. There are no other kids outside in this weather, their parents won't let them out. Other kids are probably inside watching television. The television in the Winchester's apartment is broken.

When Dean asks Sam which thing he wants to play on first, Sam just shakes his head. Dean asks again. Sam shakes his head again. Dean makes suggestions, pointing through the drizzle at all the wet pieces of equipment. When Sam still just shakes his head, Dean frowns and walks away to play by himself. Sam can't tell if his brother is angry or disappointed.

Stepping in the opposite direction, Sam goes to stand beside the single picnic table. It's not because he has any food for a picnic. It's just because there's a large tree, with huge roots to stand on and thick branches to look at and big leaves to block the rain, right next to the table. From his position, he can easily watch Dean.  
Dean starts out on the monkey bars. Sam's too little for monkey bars. Dean goes back and forth on them, from one end to the other, two and then three times. But on the fourth time, he slips and falls onto the damp wood chips. Sam runs forward to help but stops short when Dean grunts a word Dad told them not to use. When Dean looks up at Sam, frozen between the table and the monkey bars, he gives a small smile and waves him away. Sam retreats back to his sheltered spot by the empty table and the big tree.

His eyes follow Dean as his brother moves to the slide. There's a collection of water at the end of it. Dean pauses at the top, stares down the length of yellow plastic, debating. He settles down on his backside and pushes himself off. Sam notices that he tries to stop before he hits the water at the bottom. But he's going too fast and the splash when he hits is so loud Sam can hear it. Dean shrugs as if to say, I was already wet, what's a little more?

Sam curls his arms around his chest and waits while Dean tries out the squealing see-saw, which is a hard thing to do with only one person. He waits while Dean gives the merry-go-round a few hard shoves before jumping on, even though it looks kind of empty with only one person. He waits while Dean gets on a swing and pumps his legs until he's going really, really high, throwing his head back to let the rain spill all over his face. Sam's glad for the leaves that are keeping him dry right now.

He waits until he can't wait anymore because he's cold (even with Dean's old coat), tired (even though he didn't play) and hungry (even after the two halves of peanut butter sandwich he ate for lunch).

The gloomy sky is becoming the dark sky as Sam crosses the grass, his shoelaces collecting water drops. He edges his way around the swings, careful not to get too close. He calls his brother's name until Dean opens his eyes and sees him standing there. Dean's face falls and he sticks his feet out, sneakers dragging ruts against mud and bits of wood chips, until the swing slows and he can get off.

Sam doesn't say anything but he doesn't have to because Dean knows he wants to go home. Dean always knows what Sam wants without Sam talking. Except for when Dean's doing something annoying, like stealing his crayons or poking his arm and Sam wants him to stop but Dean keeps doing it. Other than those times though, Dean always knows. So Dean sighs, grabs Sam's wrist and leads the way home.

Dean's fingers leave little rust stains on the end of his old coat's sleeve. Sam is so busy looking at the new stains forming that he almost misses the way Dean keeps looking back at the playground. Sam doesn't know why. It wasn't very fun at the playground. It was raining.

The apartment is quiet when they get inside. The television is broken. So after Dean tugs Sam out of his coat, Sam kneels on the couch, chin on his arms on the back of the couch so he can watch Dean make supper. Dean pulls a pot from one cupboard and a can from the other. There are only six cans left in that cupboard. Sam knows because he can count them. He can count all the way up to twenty-seven. Higher, if Dean helps him.

Sam frowns when Dean uses the word they're not supposed to while fumbling with the can opener. The can opener is kind of rusty, just like the chains on the swings at the playground. Sam wonders if Dean will get stains on his sleeves to match the ones on Sam's coat. Once Dean finally gets the can open and dumps it into the pot and puts the pot on the stove and turns the heat on under it, he goes into the bedroom that Sam shares with him. Sam waits until he comes back out. And smiles when he sees what his brother brought with him.

It's one of Dean's comic books. Sam really, really hopes Dean will read it to him and not just sit on the couch next to him reading it by himself and turning his shoulder so Sam can't even see the pictures. Sometimes Dean does that. But not tonight. Tonight, Dean reads the comics to Sam. They pause in the middle so Dean can put some baked beans into bowls for them. They pause again when Sam spills his beans all over the couch.

After that, they move to the floor, lying on their stomachs in front of the broken television, with baked beans staining the couch behind them. Dean's bowl is Sam's bowl now and Sam chews absently as Dean resumes reading. Outside, it's still raining.


End file.
